First an update on where I am with my project to read all of Stephen King's novels in published order. As before, the red and blue are books I've now read, with red indicating books I had read previously. Below that, the bolded titles are those I'd read previously. You'll notice that Stephen King has added another two book to the end of the list so far this year, with another to be published in 2016.
- 15/6/13
Carrie - 1974 - June 15th 2013
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014
- 15/6/13 to 17/8/14 - 9
Roadwork - 1981 - 23rd August 2014
Danse Macabre - 1981 - 7th September 2014
- BONUS: Small World (Tabitha King) - 10th September 2014
Cujo - 1981 - 20th September 2014
The Running Man - 1982- 22nd September 2014
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982 - 30th September 2014
Creepshow - 1982 - 1st October 2014
Different Seasons - 1982 - 24th October 2014
- 17/8/14 to 25/10/14 - 8 (17)
Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983
The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984
- 25/10/14/14 to 14/07/2015 - 5 (22)
Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987
- 14/7/15 to 18/10/2015 - 5 (27)
The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989
- 18/10/2015 to 22/12/2015 (30)
Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992
Nightmares and Dreamscapes - 1993
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996
The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Dark Tower: Little Sisters of Eluria (Legend) - 1998
Bag of Bones - 1998
Storm of the Century - 1998
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
The New Lieutenant's Rap - 1999
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999
"Riding the Bullet" - 2000
On Writing - 2000
Secret Windows - 2000
The Plant - 2000
Dreamcatcher - 2001
Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001
Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004
Faithful - 2004
- BONUS: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill) - Jan 2005
- BONUS: Josie and Jack (Kelly Braffet) - Feb 2005
- BONUS: We're All in This Together (Owen King) - 2005
The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007
Duma Key - 2008
Just After Sunset - 2008
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009
Under the Dome - 2009
Blockade Billy - 2010
Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011
"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013
Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014
Revival - November 2014
Finders Keepers - 2015
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - 2015
End of Watch - 2016
I've just finished reading The Dark Half, which came out when I was about a year old. It came out after the Richard Bachman psuedonym had been revealed, and draws its plot heavily from that. In other words, it's about an author whose pseudonym comes to life after it is revealed and symbolically buried.
Thad Beaumont is the writer while George Stark is the pseudonym. George is also Thad's twin brother, who was consumed in the womb - something that may happen in as many as one out of ten pregnancies. When Thad starts writing, at the age of twelve, the tissue of George Stark begins to grow again in Thad's brain and is removed as a brain tumour.
Later, George Stark raises an excellent point. Why shouldn't he survive? Why does he have to die?
Happily, he's not a very nice guy so we don't need to delve too deeply into that.
When I write, I worry a lot about being misinterpreted or offending people, to the point where it hinders whatever story I'm trying to tell. In Stephen King's position, I'd have been worried about implying I'd like to murder the person who discovered my pseudonym. I think that's a small part of why he's a better writer than me; that he's not overly concerned about that, and doesn't let it get in the way of a good plot.
This is the first book to be published after Tabitha King's ultimatum over Stephen King's drinking and drugs problems (not including his essay in Nightmares in the Sky), and you can see some of that in Thad's relationship to George. George is a part of him, and not a part he completely rejects. He can see that it's a part of him that threatens his family, his friends and his well-being, as well as something that keeps him from his best work; however, it is still a part of him. It's still his twin.
Despite that, George Stark has to go because he's not a very nice guy. Because he threatens everything Thad Beaumont holds dear.
Sheriff Alan Pangborn later shows up in Bag of Bones, another book that I've read previously. You can read James Smythe's article here.
The next book is Four Past Midnight.
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